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Anyone hanging around the Clair Nelson Community Center the last few weeks will have likely noticed a new concrete slab near the swingset. What’s that going to be? Well, it’s going to be another picnic shelter. Down the road, when we can raise the money, it’s going to house a wood-fired oven for baking fun things, like bread and pizza. This new structure is happening for a number of reasons, the main one being that a local artisan, Heather Brown, received a Minnesota State Arts Board grant to become proficient at timber framing, and proposed to do so by building a structure that could be used for community purposes. The Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation and Co-op Light and Power’s Operation RoundUp have each donated $2,000 for the concrete slab for the shelter. What this all adds up to is more room for outdoor programs and activities, such as the Finland Farmers Market, Camp Finland, community barbecues, cookouts, outdoor meetings, classes, and more!

Join us September 30th from 10am to 3pm at the Clair Nelson Center to help raise the timber frame for the new picnic shelter. We welcome seasoned builders or folks with no experience at all. Come and learn, or come and share your skills! Some snacks will be available to keep our energy up throughout the day, and the evening will be topped off with the monthly September Community Potluck – social hour and setup at 5pm, followed by dinner at 6pm.

Donate here to support this project! We are still raising $2,000 for the concrete slab, and we’re hoping to raise about $5,000-6,000 for the future wood-fired oven. We appreciate your support. Checks can also be mailed to Friends of Finland, PO Box 582, Finland, MN 55603.

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. This one is. If you are looking for an update on how the fruit trees and berries we planted at the Clair Nelson Center last year are doing now, here it is:

Feed the Children

If you are looking for an update on how the Finland Community Youth Program is doing, well, each Thursday evening, the 30-40 kids who attend have a great time, and eat some pretty healthy snacks, sometimes even berries picked on the grounds.

If you are looking for an update on the health of our community, this is it. We have problems just like any other community, but we’re working on them. We are planting trees and thinking about the future, and making sure our kids know they are valuable and that they have a place to goof off. The adults in our community come to the Clair Nelson Center to goof off sometimes too. Sometimes kids and elders goof off here together. It’s the greatest thing ever. Intergenerational goofing off – the sign of a healthy community.

Friends of Finland is excited to announce our first ever Spanish Camp, which will be held at the Clair Nelson Center at the end of July 2018. Spanish Camp is being planned as a day camp for children ages 5-13, with an emphasis on language, cultures and food in the many Spanish-speaking countries around the world. Spanish Camp will be July 25th, 26th and 27th. Each day will have a theme country – Wednesday will be Mexico, Thursday will be Guatemala/Honduras/El Salvador, and Friday will be focused on the Andean countries like Chile and Peru. We will have assistance from local folks with first hand experience in many of these countries, as well as from a few native Spanish speakers.

The food especially is going to be really fun. We want kids to have the hands on experience of making their own tortillas, pupusas, empanadas, different kinds of salsas and exotic beverages like jamaica and horchata. Many of the foods we take for granted, like corn and potatoes, and things like tacos have their origins in the indigenous cultures of the (now) Spanish-speaking countries of North and South America. Food is also a great starting point for learning a new vocabulary when it comes to learning a language like Spanish.

There will also be fun games and music, as well as cultural stories and legends from the various Spanish-speaking countries. Friday the 27th will wrap up with a skit performance from 2-3pm that is open to the public. Please come have a snack and hear what the group has learned from the 3-day experience.

Anyone interested in participating in Spanish Camp should contact Honor Schauland at 218-353-0300 in order to sign up! Please sign up ASAP as there is limited space available. This program is free this year due to grant support but we appreciate donations!

This new addition to our programming has been made possible by a grant from the Duluth-Superior Area Community Foundation’s Global Awareness Fund.

Please share widely with your friends and neighbors! If anyone is interested in being added or removed from our mailing list, please contact us!

Crystal Bay Township also had an insert in the newsletter concerning voting, as the Township has gone to mail ballot only voting. More information on the Crystal Bay Township website: www.crystalbaytownship.org/

Crystal Bay Township (Finland, MN) was recently given an award by the Minnesota Department of Commerce and Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) for having the most installed solar photo-voltaic (PV) per person in the continental United States. There are a variety of factors contributing to the high amount of solar panels in the Township:

3. Many township residents’ decisions to live off the grid due to personal choice or lack of infrastructure in more remote areas of the Township.

4. Many residents’ commitment to sustainability by choosing to install grid-tied solar PV at their homes.

The Township plans to put up a highway sign noting that this is a clean energy community, possibly even a solar-powered sign. In order to retain the title of most installed solar per capita, we need to install more in the coming years. For that eventual growth to occur, solar power needs to get less expensive. While solar power has gotten more affordable in recent years, it remains financially challenging for many people. Because it pays for itself over time, construction loans are available from local banks. However, it is very difficult for low-income people to access these loans. Other obstacles are few local installers and logistics of some home sites. There’s a learning curve here; it’s unfamiliar technology for many people.

With our 283 watts of PV installed per person, we have more installed than all of the country except Hawaii, which has twice as many PV installed per-person as we do. We are the champs of the continental USA! This can change rapidly as PV is being installed constantly all over the country. If we are to maintain champion status, we need to keep adding more solar panels.

To facilitate this growth, our Township has advocated for the Lake County Commissioners to consider adopting the Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) option. PACE is a new channel to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades for buildings of commercial property owners. This would make possible energy-saving measures to be pursued by businesses. Those eligible receive project financing that is repaid as a separate item on their property tax assessment for a set period. PACE eliminates the burden of upfront costs by providing low-cost, long-term financing.

Our Township recently requested on behalf of homeowners to be included in the SolSmart, an opportunity for Minnesota Local Governments to unlock the economic development benefits of solar energy. Through SolSmart, a national program, our township will get FREE technical assistance from national solar experts to address local barriers to solar energy development. We will see what we can learn to help us make solar installs more accessible, efficient, and affordable.

Some ideas to be explored include building a Community Solar Garden for those of us with limited solar access (trees shading our homes etc.) and limited time and money but interested in solar technology for our homes. All of this gives us greater opportunities to power our homes, businesses, and community with US made energy while reducing our impact on our environment.

We can find opportunities to learn more about solar and other renewable energy options through evening programs, workshops and community conversations around maintaining our champion status by installing more solar PV in our community. At least for now, we can really be proud of our accomplishments in regards to energy conservation, ecological and sustainable buildings and of our solar installations here in the north woods.

You may have noticed that there is a new initiative promoting the distinctive culture and heritage of our area: Welcome to Finland (wtfinland.com).Welcome to Finland is meant to be Finland MN’s version of a local chamber of commerce, with a particular focus on building the online and social media presence of our unique community. Finland MN is made up of people who are proud to live here and be part of this community and its heritage. Welcome to Finland’s goal is to attract people who want to learn about and/or reconnect with our local culture and community. Wtfinland.com is about claiming our narrative in the digital world so that we attract people who are interested in the unique experience Finland, MN has to offer.

Though just launched in late 2017, blog and Facebook posts have been very popular, reaching tens of thousands of people, and there are plans for many creative ways to promote our area online. Welcome to Finland is excited to have the support of a growing number of local businesses and organizations. In collaboration, we can help get the word out online about the great things that happen in our area throughout the year. Look for more info at wtfinland.com and www.facebook.com/wtfinland/ .

Get Ready for the Finland Farmers Market 2018!
Summer 2018 at the Clair Nelson Center
Starting June 14th and continuing through October 4th!
Every Thursday evening from 5-6:30 pm
Under the Pavilion at the Clair Nelson Center
6866 Cramer Road
Finland, MN 55603
Vendors: 1st week is free! – $5 per week or $50 for the season
More info or to register call 218-353-0300
We are able to accept credit cards!

We are working hard to keep up with the number of vendors in our expanding market! This year we applied to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Good Food Access Program for funds to install awnings and bricks around our Pavilion to expand the space for the Market. We’re crossing our fingers that we get this grant! This is the second year we’ve applied, so hopefully this is our year!

We are also permitted to accept EBT/SNAP benefits this year! We are still figuring out how this will work, but we are excited to have the opportunity to help folks of all different economic situations patronize our Market and have access to healthy food.

The Finland Farmers Market was started in 2014 as part of an effort to focus on local food in the Finland MN Area as an economic development strategy. The idea is to make space for local producers to sell their goods in their own community. The Clair Nelson Center also has a commercial kitchen space that is MDA certified and available for those taking that next step and creating a food product for retail sale.

Come one, come all to the Spring Runoff Spaghetti Dinner and Variety Show! The main event will take place on May 5th from 7-9pm on the Finland Community Center Stage. This is a fundraiser.

The spaghetti dinner will take place from 6-7pm before the show. A limited number of tickets are available, so get them ASAP! Tickets for the dinner are $15 and that includes the price of the show afterwards. Please call 218-353-0300 or stop by the Clair Nelson Center for tickets.

Money raised will support our efforts to improve the lighting in the Clair Nelson Center parking lot!

Paljon kiitoksia (Thank you very much!) to all the heroes who helped to make the 43rd Annual St Urho’s Celebration happen. From the guys who put the sign up over the highway, to the folks in the parade, to all the raffle ticket sellers, to the businesses that helped out by donating prizes or selling raffle tickets and buttons, you all help make this event happen. Thank you so much!

This year’s raffle drawing winners were:

1st Prize: $600 – Greg Neff from Hayward, WI

2nd Prize: $300 – Jace Larson from Silver Bay, MN

3rd Prize: $200 – Scott Williams from Mussel Shoals, AL (!!!)

4th Prize: $100 – Kalvin Ekroot from Two Harbors, MN

5th Prize: $100 – Richard Nikula (Dubs) from Finland, MN

6th Prize: $100 – Marcus LaBerge from Little Marais, MN

Dale Nikula was the Grand Marshal of the 2018 Parade.

Two of the winning tickets were sold at the Our Place this year, two were sold by Owen Klinker, one by Miranda Sve and one by Honor Schauland. Honor Schauland sold the most tickets this year at 610 with Miranda Sve close behind at 560. Renee Goneau sold 400, Colin Bischoff 330, Owen Klinker 310. Thanks again to all the individuals and businesses who helped to sell raffle tickets. Also thanks to everyone who bought raffle tickets and buttons – that’s how we pay for the party! We appreciate your support!

Thanks to Carol and Elwood Youngberg for all of their work to gather door prizes. They are truly St Urho Heroes!

Thanks to all of the Miss Helmi Contestants this year: Colin, Paul, Calvin and Sam! You all did great. Miss Greenie Timbers (Sam) won with her lesson on proper use of a chainsaw. Also, big thanks to Smokey and the Bandit for being the Emcees. You were amazing! Also thanks to Kaare and Jeffrey for being our sound crew, Pam and Kristin for makeup and more, Charlie for being our prop guy, and all the people who put up with us. We had a fun time doing the show!

Special recognition this year to the Berquists and State Farm Insurance for their generous donation, to Cheri Bischoff for an amazing parade, to the Honor Guard for making it happen (we can’t have a parade without an Honor Guard!) to Bob and Diane at Our Place for hosting the drawing and putting in a lot of extra effort this year, to Adam’s AutoValu for the sober cab service, and to all the Miss Helmi Contestants, but especially Colin Bischoff and Paul Plante for stepping up at the last minute to make sure we had enough to have the show! Thank you to our Grand Marshal Hero Dale Nikula! Thank you to rescue heroes Kenny Albrecht, Lindsey and David Dietz, and Fuzzy for all of your chauffeuring and assistance. To all the helpers – you are heroes! Looking forward to next year!